What to eat after Thanksgiving to lose weight

Gilbert Stuart

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier. Welcome to The Health Solution and Evaking who are now Following.

Who showed us the face of the American Revolution? Gilbert Stuart, portraitist of the Founding Fathers.  Born on December 3, 1755, in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, Stuart showed promise at an early age. His first commission was done when he was 12 years old. He was tutored by a Scottish painter, who took Gilbert to Scotland at the start of the American Revolution. Although his mentor died within a year, the artist began to cultivate the famous and powerful, painting many portraits in the UK, thanks to the help of artist Benjamin West. Upon his return to the USA after the war, Stuart had a studio in the new city of Washington, DC. EVERYBODY sat for him and he was very prolific. He had to be: as brilliant as he was with a paint brush, he was equally unskilled with a check book. His famous portrait of George Washington was in great demand. Stuart kept it until he died, endlessly making copies to sell to try to stay out of debt. Until his death at age 72, he had painted 1000 portraits: 6 presidents, bishops, First Ladies, Supreme Court Justices, children and wives of rich men. His portraits looked natural and made his subjects seem alive. People enjoyed sitting for him, since he was a lively conversationalist. Want to visit his grave? No such luck. So in debt was he when he died, that his family buried him in an unmarked grave, always intending to come back and give him a headstone. But 10 years later, they couldn’t find him, and he is lost in the Central Burying Ground of Boston Common.

Even in the late 1700s, people from the Azores, fishermen and whalers, were moving to Rhode Island. Our breakfast has the flavors of their Old Country that they brought here. All-American ‘succotash’ is from Rhode Island, just like Gilbert Stuart. The word is from the language of the Narragansett Indians who settled the land long before the colonizers arrived.

Azorean Omelette: 197 calories 10.4 g fat 0.9 g fiber 12.6 g protein 5.4 g carbs [4.2 g Complex] 126 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the Omelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF When we were on vacation in the Azores, these local ingredients made for a wonderful breakfast. When at home, just as fine.

1½ two-oz eggs HINT: If you are serving one person, crack three 2-oz eggs into a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Whip up those eggs and pour half of their volume into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week.  0.3 oz Azorean cheese OR Gouda 1 oz Pimenta da Queijo    1 oz kiwi fruit   optional: blackish Portuguese or Brazilian coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea [from the Gorreana Tea Plantation] or lemon in hot water

Grate/shred the cheese. Whisk the eggs with the pepper sauce and turn into a lightly-oiled nonstick pan. Sprinkle the eggs with the cheese and cook as you would an omelette. Plate with the fruit and serve one of those delicious beverages. Excellent.

‘Original’ Succotash: 270 calories 2.6 g fat 9 g fiber 18 g protein 50 g carbs [all Complex] 71 mg Calcium  PB GF  The Mystic Seaport Cookbook  contains many quaint and curious old recipes. What follows is my combination of two of them. It is ‘original’ because it gets us back to what succotash once was [a main dish, not a side] and because it is my own version.  HINT: This recipe makes 3 cups of succotash, which could be 3 servings. 

½ cup lima beans [Green Giant frozen Fordhook] ½ cup green/snap beans ½ cup corn kernels ¼ cup canned navy beans 2 oz corned beef [New England style is grey because it contains no nitrates] 1 slice cornmeal mush aka: polenta   sage + pepper + salt to taste [mind that the corned beef might be salty] 

Cook the vegetables until they are tender. Drain the cooking water and reserve ½ cup. Mash the navy beans and whisk into ¼ cup vegetable water. Put all vegetables and the meat into a pan along with the mashed beans. Add sage and pepper to taste and more vegetable broth if you wish. If it needs more salt, add it, too. In a non-stick pan, saute the corn mush on each side until it is warm. Plate the mush with one cup of succotash. It is very filling.

Ingredients for next week: Breakfast, single portion for Monday ……… single portion for Thursday:

1.5 two-oz eggs + crab meat1.5 two-oz eggs + pear
soy sauce + bean sproutstomato + bacon + onion
mushrooms + scallion + applegreen bell pepper + mozzarella
ginger + hot saucefile powder + chili powder
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

Dinner, single portion for Monday: …….. single portion for Thursday:

eggroll wrappers + soy sauce2 crepes + tomatoes
shrimp + oyster sauce + gingersliced deli ham
garlic + carrot + onion sliced deli Swiss cheese
cabbage + tomato + canola oilVache Qui Rit cheese
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Maud

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier. Welcome to Bhadra who is now Following.

100 years ago, if you asked who was the most famous Canadian author, the answer would have been Lucy Maud Montgomery. She was born in a little yellow [now white with green trim] house in Clifton, on the North Shore of Prince Edward Island. While she was yet a toddler, her mother died and her father sent her to be raised by her maternal grandparents in Cavendish. [There is no ‘Avonlea, PEI.’] In photos, they look about as friendly as the folks in American Gothic. Maud [“I am ‘Lucy’ for my grandmother,” she said. “I am ‘Maud’ for myself”] grew up as a very lonely child with a vivid imagination. She wrote poetry, submitting her first at the age of 13 [rejected], and then short stories, and then her break-through book: Anne of Green Gables. Of course you know that book or at least one of the many television series that interpret it. Is the book autobiographical? No, her series Emily of New Moon is more like her life. But everything was grist for Maud’s literary mill, especially her beloved Prince Edward Island which is always in her work. Even when Maud married and moved to Toronto, she wrote exclusively of PEI. How land-locked she must have felt in Ontario! And how sad her life became: one son with a mental illness; another child stillborn; her clerical husband’s distant nature and her own spiral into barbiturate addiction. But PEI shone like a lighthouse beacon: a land ’emerald, sapphire, and ruby’ when she described the colors of the landscape. The sense of home that she felt there is palpable when she wrote, “You never know what peace is until you walk along the shores…of Prince Edward Island in the summer twilight..”

In honor of Maud Montgomery’s birthday on November 30, we will have a delightful breakfast from our favorite PEI inn. And for dinner, a local delicacy from the Gulf of St Lawrence: halibut with your choice of fruit sauces. Tomato salsa is very popular in PEI.

Prosciutto & Melon Plate:  125 calories 7 g fat 1 g fiber 17 g protein 13.4 g carbs [13 g Complex] 135 mg Calcium  PB GF  Once again the Inn at Saint Peter’s inspires a breakfast! Nothing beats the salty-sweet flavor combination of this meal.  HINT: I plated everything the night before and stored the plates in zipper bags in the refrigerator.

4 oz canteloupe melon [Charentais melon would be fabulous!] 1 oz thinly-sliced prosciutto ¼ cup red onion pickle 0.1 oz shavings of Parmesan cheese fresh basil or mint leaves OR crumbled dried basil drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction, optional  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Cut the melon into bite-sized cubes [8 pieces look well on the plate]. Cut the prosciutto into 8 long strips [mine were 1”x4”]. Arrange the melon and ham in a circle on the plate with the red onion in the center. Shave off curls of Parmesan and place them on top. If using fresh herb leaves, tuck them in here and there. If using dried herbs, rub the leaves in your palms to crumble over the plate. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar if you wish. Serve with your chosen beverages. Wonderful flavors, however you combine them on your fork.

Halibut with Fruit Sauce: 182 calories 5.5 g fat 1.5 g fiber 25 g protein 6.4 g carbs 82 mg Calcium   PB GF  Whether you bake or broil or grill the fish, a fruit salsa makes for a splendid topping. Two different ones are detailed below.

Here, the halibut is topped with the Rhubarb-Onion Relish and a very plain salad.

4 oz halibut filet side salad = lettuce, carrot, tomato, beets, cucumbers, vinaigrette  fruit salsa, your choice

Tomato Salsa:  makes 3 cups 1 serving = ¼ cup  From the Ball Blue Book 15 calories 0.3 g fat 0.9 g fiber 0.9 g protein 5.8 g carbs 8 mg Calcium

2 cups chopped tomatoes  
1 cup/5.3 oz chopped green sweet peppers  
1 cup chopped onion  
½ cup jalapeno/serrano peppers, chopped  1 clove garlic, minced  1 tsp salt  ¼ c cider vinegar		Put everything in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.If storing, put salsa in canning jars with 2-part lids and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Peach Salsa: 21 calories 0.3 g fat 1 g fiber 1 g protein 7 g carbs 9 mg Calcium To ¼ cup Tomato Salsa, add ½ oz diced peaches. Superb on fish.

Rhubarb-Onion Relish:  makes 1 cup  From Marion Cunningham  2 Tbsp [1 fluid ounce] = 26 calories 0 g fat 0.1 g fiber 0.1 g protein 1.5 g carbs 8 mg Calcium

1/3 cup chopped rhubarb
1/3 cup chopped onions
2¾ Tbsp vinegar ¼ tsp salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar, unpacked pinch each ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon		Mix everything together in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 45 minutes until quite thick. Can be canned in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Following the Feast

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Welcome to Sharon, Diane, and leelscooks who are now Followers.

There are many festive occasions which involve lots of special foods and which invite us to gather in a convivial setting with family and friends and over-eat.  Then comes the day of judgement when we get on the scale and find out how much damage was done by all the fun.  The solution? A Fast Day! You might want to do that the day after the feast [thus having an extra Fast that week] or wait until your next usual Fast. Another strategy would be to have either a Fast breakfast or Fast Dinner the next day to minimize the calorie intake. For tomorrow’s meals, reuse some of that turkey and stuffing for breakfast and do something completely different for dinner — lobster, anyone?

Turkey/Stuffing Bake:  279 calories   6 g fat   2.5 g fiber   15.6 g protein   38.7 g carbs   217.5 mg Calcium    GF- if using GF bread   Another in the dinner-for-breakfast series, and perfect for after a roast turkey dinner.Turkey-Stuffing Bake

1 two-oz egg                                                                                                                                                             ½ oz turkey breast                                                                                                                                                  ¼ slice of 70-calorie whole-grain bread [¼ oz]                                                                                              1 Tbsp onions                                                                                                                                                                   1 Tbsp celery                                                                                                                                                   rosemary + thyme + sage + salt + pepper                                                                                                           ½ tsp olive oil                                                                                                                                                            1 oz pear                                                                                                                                                                       5-6 oz fruit smoothie or green smoothie or natural apple cider                                                            nearly-black coffee or tea; or lemon in hot water.

In a saute pan, cook the onions, seasonings, celery, and turkey [if it is raw] in a little water and a ½ tsp olive oil until vegetables are softened. Spritz a ramekin with non-stick spray and pour in the turkey mixture. Whisk the egg thoroughly and pour into the ramekin. Bake at 350 until puffed and starting to brown. Meanwhile, slice the pear and prepare the beverages. 

Lobster a l’Armoricaine:  282 calories   3 g fat   2.5 g fiber   21.5 g protein   12.2 g carbs   142 mg Calcium  PB GF   No, it isn’t a typo. This lobster dish is from the Armor coast of Brittany, therefore: Armoricain, “from the Armor.” The recipe is from Brittany Gastronomique by Kate Whiteman. Elegant yet simple.Lobster a l'Armoricaine

3 oz lobster meat, cooked or uncooked                                                                                                                        2 Tbsp shallot, minced                                                                                                                                                      ½ clove garlic                                                                                                                                                             1 oz cognac or other brandy                                                                                                                                                                            2 oz dry white wine [not cooking wine]                                                                                                              ½ cup tomato, diced                                                                                                                                                1 tsp tomato puree [not paste]                                                                                                                            1 Tbsp half & half [blend cream in Canada]                                                                                                            1 Tbsp Gruyère cheese, grated                                                                                                                                            1 oz broccoli florets                                                                                                                                                    1 oz carrots, in coins or batons

Remove lobster meat from shell and cut into 1” pieces. Put the shallot and garlic in a pan spritzed with oil. Saute over low heat until soft. Add the lobster meat, and cognac. Tip the pan to distribute the brandy, then flame the contents off the heat until the flames die. Put into a heat-proof dish and keep barely warm. Add the wine, tomatoes, and puree to the pan and cook until syrupy. Add the cream and heat slowly to reduce in volume a bit. Do not let it boil lest the sauce separate. Meanwhile, cook the vegetables. Pour the sauce over the lobster and top with grated cheese. Heat under the broiler or in an oven until bubbly.  Plate with the vegetables.